Let us rewind to an era that existed before COVID-19 hit our lives; when we used to roam and explore around freely without masks, where you could meet up with your friends and talk for hours over filter coffee and chai. The days where we could flaunt our lipstick shades and we would dress up with every ‘i’ dotted and every ‘t’ crossed. Such was our life but ugh let me pinch you back to the reality — the reality of masks and sanitizers.
The COVID-19 period can also be termed as the digital era, from workplace to classrooms, and even recreational activities went digital. Never did we imagine that such a period will arrive but maybe Sheldon, Rick and Morty, and others did drop some hints or it must be my weird imagination! But coming back to today’s topic, how did we increase our productivity pre-COVID-19 period? Maybe we attended some hobby classes, took up pottery lessons, went hiking up the difficult terrains, took a great vacation on beaches and we allotted particular work hours, study hours, practiced some math questions or physics or we wrote, the list was endless. Fast-forward to the current times, our productivity techniques have not changed if you think about it. It’s just technology that is making us keep track of our progress easily, keeping us informed about what’s in our calendars and schedules, and even maps out time-management strategies for us.
Even work-from-home has increased our productivity levels, while this subjectivity, it remains true for a large chunk of the population. While working from home, people can find themselves surrounded by an environment that is conducive to learning and being around pets is a bonus…you can pet them go play fetch with them or simply having them beside you is comforting in different ways. While this period is not a vacation period but rather a bleak period marked with numerous uncertainties and laced with fear and stress. But since this virus is not going away anytime soon, technology has helped us to cope better and become productive even during these stressful times.
Maybe you learned a language and technology made this process easier- so many apps provided you with arrays of languages that you could learn. Digital learning gave us even customized and personalized learning that catered to our needs. It charted out areas we were lagging at and provided easy ways to retain what we have learned. Overall our productivity in learning got a major boost; we had time to learn music, an instrument, some martial arts, and some cooking classes, and so on. We cribbed about not getting enough time to do what we wanted we were to occupied with going to school, then attending back to back tuitions and amidst that we found ourselves lost. With online learning, while it is monotonous, it left us some time in our hands that we utilized to learn a new skill and technology aided that process. Technology helped us get connected with mental health experts and seek their help when the going went tough for us to deal with. And while digital learning had its limitations and challenges, several other digital help emerged to help us cope with it and allowed us to channel our productivity and creativity, also. Therefore, we can see how technology has taken the center-stage in our lives now, we need to embrace it, and in the foreseeable future, technology will become even more inseparable from our lives hence, be kind to yourself, give yourself adequate breaks, drinks lots of water, and remember to stay connected with your peers and colleagues and family!
-Rajnandini Barman
